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Time
Time (magazine)

Time is a weekly United States newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. A European edition is published from London....
 Person of the Century was created to honor one of the Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century
Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century

The Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century is a compilation of the 20th century 100 most influential people, published in Time magazine in 1999....
. On December 31, 1999, the magazine published a special edition of its magazine naming Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a Germany-born theoretical physics. He is best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass?energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2....
 as "Person of the Century". Because the editors of TIME believed the twentieth century would be remembered most for its advances in science and technology, they thought Einstein would serve as a symbol for the scientists Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg

Werner Heisenberg was a German Theoretical physics who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory....
, Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr

Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Denmark physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922....
, Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman

Richard Phillips Feynman was an United States physicist known for the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as work in particle physics ....
, and Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking Companion of Honour, Commander of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy is a British Theoretical physics....
 and the others who have built upon his work.

The cover of the magazine featured the 1947 image of Einstein taken by American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 portrait photographer
Photographer

A photographer is a person who takes a photograph using a camera. A professional photographer uses photography to make a living whilst an amateur photographer does not earn a living and typically takes photographs for pleasure and to record an event, place or person for future enjoyment....
 Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman

Philippe Halsman was a Latvian-born United States portrait photography....
.






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Einstein Time Person of the Century
Time
Time (magazine)

Time is a weekly United States newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. A European edition is published from London....
 Person of the Century was created to honor one of the Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century
Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century

The Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century is a compilation of the 20th century 100 most influential people, published in Time magazine in 1999....
. On December 31, 1999, the magazine published a special edition of its magazine naming Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a Germany-born theoretical physics. He is best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass?energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2....
 as "Person of the Century". Because the editors of TIME believed the twentieth century would be remembered most for its advances in science and technology, they thought Einstein would serve as a symbol for the scientists Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg

Werner Heisenberg was a German Theoretical physics who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory....
, Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr

Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Denmark physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922....
, Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman

Richard Phillips Feynman was an United States physicist known for the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as work in particle physics ....
, and Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking

Stephen William Hawking Companion of Honour, Commander of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy is a British Theoretical physics....
 and the others who have built upon his work.

The cover of the magazine featured the 1947 image of Einstein taken by American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 portrait photographer
Photographer

A photographer is a person who takes a photograph using a camera. A professional photographer uses photography to make a living whilst an amateur photographer does not earn a living and typically takes photographs for pleasure and to record an event, place or person for future enjoyment....
 Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman

Philippe Halsman was a Latvian-born United States portrait photography....
. It was during this photo session that Einstein spoke to Halsman of his despair over how his special theory of relativity and letter
Einstein-Szilárd letter

The Einstein-Szil?rd letter was a letter sent to United States President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 2, 1939, that was signed by Albert Einstein but largely written by Le? Szil?rd in consultation with fellow Hungary physicists Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner....
 to Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , often referred to by his initials FDR, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 led to the creation of the atomic bomb. It was at this point of immense sadness for Einstein that Halsman took the picture.

The runners-up for Person of the Century were Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , often referred to by his initials FDR, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 and Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha?resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence?which led India to Indian independence movement and inspired movements for civi...
.

Adolf Hitler

It appears that TIME originally chose Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
, the dictator
Dictator

A dictator is an authoritarian ruler who assumes sole and absolute power without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship....
 of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
, as Person of the Century, but decided to give it to Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a Germany-born theoretical physics. He is best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass?energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2....
 because of the controversy that ensued when word leaked out (consisting in part of many threats to cancel subscriptions if Hitler were given the distinction and his image put on the cover of the magazine.)

In 1979 TIME named Ruhollah Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini

Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini was an Iranian religious leader and scholar, politician, and leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution which saw the overthrow of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the late Iranian monarchy of Iran....
 as Man of the Year, which generated massive public backlash. Since then TIME has avoided naming anti-Americans Person of the Year. However, controversy arose when Rudolph Giuliani was declared Person of the Year 2001 over Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden is a member of the prominent Saudi Arabia bin Laden family and the founder of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, best known for the September 11 attacks on the United States....
. In the same issue, there was an article that mentioned TIMEs earlier decision to make Ayatollah Khomeini as Man of the Year in 1979 and the 1999 rejection of Hitler as Person of the Century.

See also

  • Time Person of the Year
  • The Time 100
    Time 100

    The Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time . Developed as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has developed into an annual event....
    .     Time magazine's list of currently influential people, published annually beginning in 2004, following the success of 1999's "20th century" list.


External links